Current student in the Twin Cities, not 'expert' information by any means just my 2 cents... They are vastly different campuses with different curriculums, structures etc.
The Duluth campus is much much smaller and the class tends to be very close/spend a lot of time together. TC campus is very large, many members of my class have still never met each other after 1 year (we had a hybrid format last year). Life is also obviously very different in the TC vs Duluth.
Duluth's mission is heavily focused on rural/cultural competency/native americans, which is reflected in their curriculum/research/opportunities. I would say the TC has less of a focus on any particular thing and is very broad and students have to engage with/carve out a specific focus if they are interested in one.
Their curriculums (while both are great!) are
extremely different. (
Duluth 1st year,
Duluth 2nd year,
TC 1st year,
TC 2nd year). I imagine this would also impact the formats/day to day schedule of classes (although I'm not sure on specifics) so if you have a specific learning style or preference for small groups vs large group, in person vs virtual, required vs optional etc this might be relevant. Duluth also has electives while for the most part TC does not.
All of this only applies to the first 2 years of medical school. For 3rd and 4th year the 2 campuses are effectively merged into one class and they have equal access to all clinical rotations/sites (as far as I'm aware). So while there aren't any differences during the clinical years, there is the added element of the ~50 Duluth students merging with the ~170 TC students.
There are probably more differences and at the end of the day maybe they don't matter to you and you'd be happy at either campus. But if you feel like you wouldn't thrive at either the TC campus or Duluth campus, I wouldn't apply to both just because they're both in MN or because it will 'increase your chances' or anything like that. Every medical school you apply to should be a place you're genuinely excited to be at and think would be a good fit for you!
Medical school is awesome and becoming a physician is the biggest privilege there is, but I cannot stress enough that if you do not enjoy the environment you're in, if you don't like the way content is presented/organized, if you're dissatisfied with the lens through which concepts are explained, if your learning style doesn't mesh with the curriculum, if you won't be happy living there during your time outside of the classroom etc. it will be really tough.
You're about to dedicate years of your life and countless hours of your time to this institution. If it's a good fit, it can be one of the best experiences of your life, even during the hard moments. If it's a bad fit, you can still get through and still get to be a physician at the end, but it won't be the same experience by any means.